Why Travel Friendships Are The Best

Sorry family – I don’t mean you, but since the age of 18 I’ve been travelling, zipping from country to country, and having experiences which took me all over the globe.

So I never settled, and my home town was never really home anymore.

I would be at work and friends would talk about how they were so excited to spend time with their friends back home – but I just never felt like that… because my friends were dotted all over – a global mash of different countries and accents. There wasn’t that ‘group’ at home.

This sounds like a sob story, but it really isn’t! I am lucky to have SO many amazing, wonderful, inspiring friends, and a lot of these people are so similar to me. Get togethers just aren’t as simple as going home every few months and meeting up…

Why? Because a lot of them are travel friends – and travel friendships are the best!

It used to stress me out. How all my best friends were literally thousands of miles apart from each other. But then the more I travelled, the more the world shrank. Suddenly everyone seemed a lot closer.

You’d be surprised at how handy it is to have friends in so many corners of the globe.

I could open my own couch surfing company!

But nope, I keep them all to myself – which means there are a lot of amazing countries with my own personal tour guide and sofa bed waiting.

I met my first travel friends on my gap year 10 years ago, and they are still there today, when I need them. I am fortunate to have met some of the best people over the years that followed, and every one of them has their own network of travel friendships too. It is surprising how many mutual friends you will discover along the way!

Of course, there are always ones that drop away.

But thats life. You can be friends with someone since childhood and then drift apart 20 years later. And then there is the someone you’ve known for two weeks who you feel closer to than anyone else in the world.

Friendship isn’t about longevity.

It is about having things in common, communicating, and wanting to be friends.

And then of course you just click with someone – you catch each others eye, and you know instantly you are destined to be friends. Sometimes your soul mates are actually your best friends. Boyfriends and girlfriends have a hell of a lot to live up to (although I married one of my travel friends so he counts as both).

I don’t worry about the ones that I’m not as close with anymore, because it is sad but true that as you get older you realise there is only so much time. You can’t be best friends with everyone – you would never be a good friend to anyone. You’d spread yourself too thinly, and the real good ones would drop away.

It is much nicer to have the odd surprise message catch-up than flogging a dead horse (sorry for the awful metaphor).

Just don’t expect your travel best friend to necessarily be your best friend when you all get home. What’s funny about travel friendships is that often it is the ones you think you’ll definitely keep in contact with for the rest of your life that you don’t, and sometimes the ones you least expect to, you do.

But there will always be the special ones…

The diamonds, the soul sisters, the you in another body.

The ones who you know will always be there. They will most likely be there forever. Because you were both in that same place at the same time. You both signed up to do the same trip. And then on top of that you got along, shared a sense of style, love of tequila, dislike for the same movie. They already had what your friends back at home are going to struggle to compete with. And thats why travel friendships are truly the most special you will have in your life.

That’s why a global friendship group is amazing.

I love you all, my travel friends! Thank you for making my adventures so awesome!

Do you continue to build strong travel friendships that last longer than just the trip? Maybe you have one in particular that has lasted the test of time? Or do you leave those moments with your travels and let travel friendships remain as glorious memories? Comment below and join the conversation!

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